Abstract
The NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute and the NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) conducted an internal datathon, where researchers working on diverse fields came together, to explore new possibilities for data utilization while enhancing participants' skills and promoting personnel exchange. The data from the 2021 Time Use Survey on Media Use was used on this occasion. A total of 16 researchers and three external programmers were divided into three teams, each setting their own theme for analysis.
One team explored how to apply the insights gained from the data to program production, focusing on the media use of child-rearing generation. Another visualized the data of all respondents to make it easier to see at a glance, which enabled them to gain insights. The third team examined the use of live video streaming to make recommendations for content planning. Through collaboration among members with different specialties, three distinct analyses were yielded from the same data, which confirmed that a datathon could bring about diverse insights. Furthermore, positive feedback was received, including that new insights had been obtained through discussions with members who did not usually work together. At the same time, several challenges were identified regarding scheduling, theme setting, data analysis skills, how to utilize ideas and analysis results, and so forth. While overcoming these challenges, we will further develop the utilization of datathon as a vehicle of making NHK's research and survey data more beneficial to society.
